we had a letter with 13 of our colleagues, including senators wicker, murkowski, collins, snowe and brown urging the committee to include this funding in the bill. it's there now. i certainly hope that we're going to see bipartisan support for keeping this funding in the bill. and let me just turn to -- and i know -- mr. kerry: if i could ask the senator from new hampshire, i ask unanimous consent the distinguished are senator from maryland, ms. mikulski, join us in this colloquy and we extend it by 10 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kerry: i know the senator from new hampshire wanted to turn to the senator from alaska. mrs. shaheen: we're from new england. senator mikulski a adds further south on the east coast, but this is a bicoastal, as i know senator begich will tell us, it's a huge issue for people in alaska also. same problem. mr. begich: in alaska it's even magnified in many ways. if you think of alaska's coastline, three quarters of this coastline is alaska. fishermen have been fishing there not just for the few hundred years of commercial fishing but for t